Total last 60 days: 84
Canada 10
UK 6
India 5
Australia 3
South Africa 2
and 1 each for Chile, Hong Kong, Romania, Algeria, Poland, Singapore, Philippines, France
US by subtraction (84-34)=50
I am curious how our new worldwide members have found out about SOR. And what can be done to attract more members and more specifically more Non-US members. I personally was told about SOR accidentally when the BS Discussion Group was "disintegrating", (thank you Michael78651), but what about the rest of you...US and Non-US?
rrr...
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Hi Everyone;
I found this place by accident. I was aware that some discussion boards also offer a way to sell
stamps and felt it was time to look for some new options. I originally sold in a store on eBay.
Then they raised their monthly store fee to virtually eliminate stores for small sellers. You would
have to sell $500 - $1,000 a month to afford one.
My plan was to find from 2-5 websites to sell on and eventually choose one to put all my stamps in.
This was the results of that little experiment:
1) eCrater was totally free, but was too small in terms of members that were stamp collectors, and
only had the smallest number of stamp lots of five sites I tried.
2) Webstore was also free with only a few thousand more listing of stamps than eCrater. My sales
was good, but not great, nothing to get excited about.
3) Wensy was very similar and had many more stamp listings than the above but sales again was
modest at best.
4) eBid was not free. I think they charge 3% and for cheap lots a 1¢ surcharge, or they round the
3% to 1¢ to discourage cheap lots. Lifetime membership for 5 store sellers is about US$49.00!
5) Delcampe was not free either. Altho sales was just a bit better than some it was still 5%
comission. Many lots were in French, and I'm not fluent with French.
I think that 2014 will probably be a record year for the number of new members. I would not
recommend any of the above sites for sales of stamps, as they are not user friendly and many of
them don't pay attention to philatelists because stamps are such a small fraction of their sales.
So this is the chain of events that prompted me to make this change.
1) Sales on all five was abysmally small, and Wensy.com had just folded and disappeared.
2) WebStore started a new policy of placing banners over top of the images that said; "New Listing"
(30 days), "Closing Soon", "Price Reduced". I told support to remove these or I would leave.
They covered the bottom of the image so you could not see the bottom perfs. Even tho mouse-over
would make them disappear, some buyers were not aware of this.
3) Delcampe had changed and was getting very arrogant about medium priced material, and only
wanted to sell rare stamps. All lots sold there were charged 5% + US$0.18. So sales of stamps
less than a couple bucks was not worth while. Also any lots with few hits or slow sales would be
canceled without notice.
4) Sales on eCrater and eBid were slower than a snail racing across a puddle of molasses!
I have discovered that it is very difficult to sell on multiple sites at once. It is better to find one
good one and stick with it. You can never get to know your buyers very well when spread so thin,
nor can you provide good customer service.
Those are the reasons that I have chosen this site as my place to learn about stamps and the
folks that collect them. I've learned more about why people collect, and that makes it easier
for me to offer what they are most likely to enjoy having in their collection.
Just some musings....
TuskenRaider
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I found it by accident as well by doing search about a stamp question. I believe a discussion on this site was the first link.
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Google brought me here about a year ago. Was looking for an answer to some stamp question and SOR was one of the sites returned. Turns out it was the one I stuck with!
-Steve
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Hi Everyone;
@seanpashby & GeoStamper;
Since I've joined Stamp-o-Rama, I've done searches of stamp questions on Google, and more
than a few times it returned links to posts on here, some of them were old and some newer.
Google as been beneficial to a lot of folks looking to get better exposure, on the web.
Long live Google!!!!!!!!
Just dreamin'....
TuskenRaider
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I'm a new member from the USA. I found the group through a Google search. I have been going it alone in the hobby, just making purchases on eBay. I have so many questions on my specialty I wanted to reach out and find collectors with similar interests.
The funny thing is that being on this board has opened my thoughts to things I haven't thought of in a long while.
84 new members in two months is nothing to sneeze at. That's pretty successful. One suggestion I have would be for members who sell on line to include a small flyer for the club when they mail lots to buyers. It could be a simple half or third of a sheet, not adding to weight, cheap to print!
Trade links with other stamp websites.
Ask members to invite members from their local stamp club, and put out flyers at shows.
We print a postcard to promote our model car show. A nice color card is pretty cheap when bought in quantity at Vista Print, much cheaper than flyers so we print a load of them and send a stack to every club we know of, as well as putting them out in hobby shops and at shows. People like it because the card has become a souvenir in itself.
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I too found Stamporama through a google search several years ago...Was very quiet until about a year ago when I stumbled upon the articles and the discussions...Now you can`t
shut me up as my shyness has become hidden under 4 feet of snow....As a question comes to mind someone has the answer! I am so glad to have friends here on the Stamporama site...Best google search ever!
Cheryl
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Hi Everyone;
How about a checkbox in the application or in the public profile as to how we found out about SOR?
1) Google search
2) Word-of-mouth
3) local stamp club
4) Stamp dealer
5) stamp show or exhibition
or better yet, applicant states in their own words, where they heard of this site.
Just thinkin' too much....
TuskenRaider
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It's hard to believe, but Google didn't even exist when I discovered Stamporama, which someone mentioned on a Usenet group, rec. collecting.stamps.discuss (r.c.s.d.), now a Google Group. That was around 1995 or so, as I recall. It consisted of only a dozen or so members; the founder, Jerry Abern, a retired teacher, produced an occasional newsletter that mostly contained jokes. We've come a long way, Baby! 
In its heyday, r.c.s.d. was the place to be, with scores of posts every day, many from very knowledgeable collectors. It's still around, but might as well not be. It gets maybe a dozen posts a month, on a good month!
Bob
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i don't remember how or when exactly I found SOR; it was about the time Bob joined, I suppose. I wasn't among the originals, but I wasn't far behind.
We did two yearly auctions then, by paper. Tom Cannata and I organized the auctions and took the bids. Probably about 70 or so lots each time.
Jerry surrounded himself with enthusiastic people and let them have at it. He never tried to control things, but encouraged us to find better ways to do things, and boy did they.
When Jerry died, Roy took over. He had already been positioning us to move to all electronic formats, and, as I've said before, he was the driving force behind it. Much of the software we have today has been improvements to Roy's original material, although, of late, Tim has been adding lots of new things.
And, right there, Jerry, Roy, Tim is the successive sparks that have allowed the rest of us to contribute in such meaningful ways.
My hat is always off to you three visionaries.... bask in the reflected glare of my shiny bald pate.
I don't want to take away from all the folks, past and present, who have shared their time and expertise. The moderators: Bobby, Lisa, Jan-Simon, and before them Mette, Bob and Liz. Ralph on articles. The VC with Arno, Dan, Tim, Bobby, and Jan-Simon. The indefatigable Perry who headed membership for so many years. Rrrralphy on approvals. Arno, Bobby, Kelly undertaking the immense task of reorganizing and refining our discussion board into the dynamic and far more useful resource it is today.
I am sure I am missing folks, only because of a quickly shrinking memory bank, and not because there haven't been other contributions of note.
David
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03:00:50pm
I joined right after I got the internet, which was February 1997 - I was putting my name on all these trading sites - which would be totally wrong in today's internet world. Amongst the handful of trading sites was SOR and even a *discussion* group. I still chuckle that we were in the electronic age with a virtual stamp club and Jerry posted the Rambler to everyone's mail box 
I wish I could remember who was here at the time. I think Bob and David came about the same time. Bob - I was in the Usenet group too. One of my closest stamp collecting friends I met here, Rob, was awesome. He had a stroke quite some time ago and after returning home he had totally lost interest in collecting although his wife still does maintain a small collection.
It's been interesting watching SOR grow from our little tiny group. I remember when we hit about 50 members, We thought we were the hottest thing in stamp collecting online! SOR is in my blood. I may not contribute a lot to the discussions and mainly stick behind the scenes of stuff but it's always family .
I'm a proud SOR dinosaur and it feels so good to see us joined around the globe.
Kelly
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I don't remember how I got here. I really don't want to say, because I was probably sitting naked at my computer at the time, and I wouldn't want anyone to have that image in their head.
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06:29:35pm
Thanks for sparing us that visual image Michael! 
Already I can feel the burning on my sensitive brain.
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06:35:50pm
Thanks, Michael, for not putting that image in my head! Now, the rest of the day I'll try not to think about hippopotamuses. 
I have been active online since the days of dial up 300 baud modems and bulletin boards. From 1998, I was an active participant in the various incarnations of chat boards on eBay and Yahoo. It wasn't until early 2013 that I found Stamporama.
in January 2013, while being chastised by a moderator on Stampboards for rather aggressively defending a collector who was being cyber bullied by a pseudo intellectual jerk (I was undoubtedly being quite the jerk myself, but cyber bullies make me almost as mad as the physical kind), I was told that I would probably like Stamporama as it was a kinder, gentler place (my words, but the meaning was there).
It has been, is, and from all indication, will be a joy to participate here. I have made good friends and make new ones almost every day. All that and I learn things!
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06:42:27pm
See Michael, what you've done? The horrid nightmares we are all going to experience tonight as we nestle into our nice warm beds - we're not going to have visions of sugar plum fairies, we're going to have ... oy....
Bobby - we let you stay so we can work your hide off, just think of how many people you've had the opportunity to tell off politely and we all say thank you - that's rare in this world, a true show of love 
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@Michael,
Was there any alcohol involved at the time? I'm just asking because I know that a certain amount of alcohol has participated in many of my auction bids. 
Regards ... Tim.
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Tim, I don't think there was any alcohol. Might have been some booze. I just hope that my web cam wasn't turned on at the time...I'm sure it wasn't, because I would have been an overnight sensation on the internet if the cam was on. 
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I can't remember how I learned about Stamporama - I think it was a Google search. But, back in 2008 I joined and did a ton of buying from Liz and Lee. My Japan and Scandinavian collections benefited greatly, and I made a bunch of wonderful friendships. I can't imagine collecting without all my SOR compadres! Philately is often described as a solitary pursuit, but I feel that is rather inaccurate - my philatelic friendships are the part of the hobby I enjoy most!
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I have been here seen July 2013 (not very long compared to others here)--I have to thank Michael##### for letting me know his stamp ID game had moved from BS over here.
I try to tell my trading friends to try SOR and a couple of joined so far. It's a great place to discuss and buy stamps! BOB
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Hi
New member here - I collect Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports, and early Macau. Main area of interest now is arrival cancels abroad and ship cancels. Also a member of the HKSC and if you are on Facebook a group called Hong Kong Stamps, Covers and Postmarks
Am currently collating arrival cancels on HK stamps with a view at some point to creating a monograph to update the one published by Lee Scamp et al,Hong Kong Arrival Markings in 1980. This is a great work but it is in black & white and before the age of inexpensive colour printing. We have computers, scanners, printers and digital cameras that at the time of publication they could only dream.
Just need alot of money to buy all the good items that come up at auction or failing that great photos from fellow collectors etc, and alot of time and more knowledge than I currently possess.
William
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BobbyBarnhart wrote:
"...in January 2013, while being chastised by a moderator on Stampboards for rather aggressively defending a collector who was being cyber bullied by a pseudo intellectual jerk..."
That sort of thing happening on Stampboards? I find that hard to believe.........not!
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WillLack wrote:
"Am currently collating arrival cancels on HK stamps with a view at some point to creating a monograph to update the one published by Lee Scamp et al,Hong Kong Arrival Markings in 1980. This is a great work but it is in black & white and before the age of inexpensive colour printing. We have computers, scanners, printers and digital cameras that at the time of publication they could only dream."
Good for you. There are numerous publications on Hong Kong material which could do with the same treatment.
Some of those that I have seen, not only need their illustrations updated (and more illustrations used) but would benefit from a re-styling of presentation. Some are quite badly written and rather dull.
You could of course do a trial run on this board, by putting your work up as an 'article'. I would imagine you could post this piecemeal. Any feedback you get would help refine it.
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I'm glad for this thread, if only to figure out that amsd is David and Poodle Mum is Kelly!
I remember how I found out about Stamporama quite clearly. My son was born in 1995 and by 1996 I had given up golf as too time consuming and rediscovered my childhood stamp album. I wondered if people still collected stamps (honest, I had no idea) and started searching around the Internet and the library. Found Linns and Scott Catalogues at the library and Stamporama online.
I wasn't one of the original 6 but I'm pretty sure I was one of the original 50 or so. I was on what was possibly the first Volunteer Committee with Kelly and Bob and David. I remember struggling with the need for lots of bylaws and rules as the first couple versions were being built. Although it sure seems to be working fine these days.
I loved those early Ramblers. Massive word docs (didn't the first ones get mailed to people who signed up offline?) that took forever to download and were full of jokes and stories and Jerry's ruminations and were sometimes even about stamps. There was a fellow names Brian McGrath (I think) who would write stories about sorting mixes or going to stamp shows and I loved his stuff. They inspired me to write a column called "news from the northlands" along similar lines. General collecting stuff, what's going on with my local club, etc.
Remember the round robin? Fun trading circuit. The Portugal defins in my stockbook are still remembered as "from David".
After Jerry died I remember Bob and Roy really taking Stamporama to the next level as an online club. Roy dealing with the website and Bob raising the level of articles on the site. But there were so many others too. Mette Heindorff and Arlene and Patches (maybe Arlene is patches? I'm so bad with Internet handles!) Rob V from Holland who I actually spoke on the phone with before he had a stroke and gave up stamps.
By 2004 or so I had got really heavy into my local stamp club and then it all crashed. Life got busy, work got stressful, the club was more work than fun and I pretty much dropped stamp collecting completely. Went dark, as they say. Quit the club, quit online, quit reading Linns etc.
I've slowly got back to the hobby over the past few years. I am committed to keeping it a hobby. For fun. I get to the local club once a year or so, lurk around online a bit and have spent the past two years working through a huge lot of Sweden that I bought on eBay, a few stamps at a time. It's fun again.
When I "rediscovered" Stamporama a while back I was so impressed by how far this club has come. The auction and approval books are humming. The discussion board is friendly and informative. And the articles are still excellent. And the tone is still friendly and respectful (that's not always the case in online stamp forums!) That's a huge credit to the folks who are running things now. Some old, some new (to me anyway!)
I'd like to get more active here again. I'm just feeling my way around a bit. Figuring out who's who, etc. I'm finding it hard to post because I'm a new guy here again but I remember many of you. So it's a little strange. Maybe this "reintroduction" will help.
Even though it's been nearly 20 years (!) since I got back into stamp collecting I'm still pretty much a perpetual beginner. Hey, that might be a good column for the Rambler. "The Perpetual Beginner". lol.
Mark
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12:40:24pm
Welcome back, Mark. I have been a beginner for 50some years, so do not apologize. Every day I do not learn something new I qualify as a wasted day. As a moderator here, I read every single post, whether it involves my collecting interest or not, and it perfectly matches my compulsive learning curve. Always feel free to message me about anything; I seldom know the answer, but more often than not can direct you to a member who does.
Have fun vis a vis your return to the fold. We are the best damn stamp club around, and there is a meeting in progress 24/7.
-Bobby
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Mark, you and I probably popped in about the same time. I remember all those folks, too. Liz is Patches, and she's still around making up the best auction lots. Mette was very active then; I refer to her website often in explaining early seals. She was THE authority on Danish seals.
The round robins were, unfortunately, mostly a disaster. I remember getting extraordinary material from Bob and passing on material to the next person. Bob had tailored his material precisely for me. By the time it got back to Bob for round two, it was floor sweepings.
We did spend a lot of time on bylaws, but I think they have served us well as underpinning on how to conduct ourselves.
I missed you when you were on hiatus, and glad to see you back
David
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Hi, Looks like this is the place where you introduce yourself. Explain how you collected when you were young. Moved on to other things, then funny thing -- You see a stamp and it's all over. You are back as a Philatelist.
Guilty as charged.
I collected as a teenager and remember spending hours at a time traveling around the world via those stamps. It was a fantastic time. Anyhow, went off to college, got married, raised 3 wonderful kids (what other kind are there) and things are now starting to be less hectic, except during college football. My son ended up at Ohio State and my Daughter at Michigan State. Games can divide the old house. Yea, I still have to get up and punch the clock everyday, but only a few more years of that.
Anyway, I kept my stamp collection and stored it safely away. Not too humid, etc. I managed to keep it through 8 or 10 moves. So, what did I do. I decided to sell it. I pulled it out and started looking through my album pages, stock books, glassines.... Next thing I find myself bidding at a local auction on a stamp collection. I say I may be able to sell it too. Buy a few more things at a few more auctions, hit ebay, ebid, delcampe... Hooked. Again. Nothing to do but give in to temptation.
I found a local stamp and coin store. Now I am all in. My wife doesn't understand, but is trying to. Now I found stamporama, and after reading many postings, looking at the approvals pages (already bought some), I feel I found a really good place to learn about what has happened in the last 30 years in the field.
Anyway thanks for being here for me. Hope I can add something to the group overtime.
John
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Welcome back to the hobby, and welcome to SOR!
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Stockflyer, please tell us what you collect.
Bob
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10:55:15pm
I enjoyed reading your (all too familiar) story. 50+ year collector here, with several lapses to my credit. You sound like an ideal fit into our community, and I expect to see you posting with regularity.
Welcome aboard, John! 
Bobby
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Hi John;
Your public profile just states that you collect US & WW. I think what bobstamp was wondering
is; do you collect used or mint, back-of-book, covers, full sheets or just singles?
Some WW collectors only collect Europe, and some only North & South America, some also collect
Asia, and crazy sand people like me collect all countries but only up to 1970s or early 80s. Also
many of us use all sorts of albums to house our treasures, some make their own, some use pre-
printed albums, some topical collectors prefer Vario pages etc.
I use Scott International first seven volumes (big blue) and about 30 Scott green specialty
albums, and only mount with hinges, except very expensive stamps.
Just chillin'....
TuskenRaider
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02:16:56pm
Mark - I'm still in contact with Rob from time to time. His wife has a small collection - he's now obsessed with chess. He's built a huge library just to study chess. I've tried to encourage him to come back and share his knowledge about Scandinavian post and he's thought about it a number of times but he just can't do it (he still has the knowledge, he hasn't forgotten it). He and I were definitely close friends back then and I'm glad I was able to re-locate him this past year after A LOT of searching.
I think Jerry picked the perfect name for the Rambler - he did love to tell stories and yup, some of them were about stamps! LOL
He used to list all the members in every Rambler and after I think we hit about 30 or 40 I thought, good Lord, half the Rambler will one day be just filled with lists of members. Well, I think we surpassed that one!
I am still amazed at how much we have grown, how many new things we have here at SOR and just sometimes overwhelmed when I think of our little discussion board and the round robins. We definitely did a lot of trading back then. Maybe that's why every time we tried to set up a new round robin it flew the nest because everyone was already trading with each other and no doubt whatever was sent to one person in a packet was eventually passed on to someone else in the club!
I look at the in-depth discussions we have and again feel overwhelmed with pride and love and the fact that there are so many people here who have come back to the hobby or picked it up "by accident through inheritance." So many people stepping up, not afraid to ask questions about their stamps and covers and postmarks and then see the wealth of information that follows up all those questions.
I'm so glad we've been able to collectively build up and keep SOR alive and growing every day
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John (stockflyer), your story is nearly identical to mine, right down to the number of kids! I'm also assuming you are military? Ten moves and the fighter jets are my only clues, but they are strong clues. Air Force, correct? I was Army, so if all my assumptions are true, we have a good-natured rivalry brewing already. Add to that those Big-10 schools... it had to be MSU and OSU, didn't it? With me being a Notre Dame grad living in Nebraska, I think we've got about all the rivalry bases covered. 
Which brings up an interesting thought... What are the (friendly) rivalries among stamp collectors? So far in my year back into the hobby I've see here on SOR:
* Those who swear by hinges and those who never, ever, ever hinge.
* Those who think a stamp off cover is worthless versus the "soak-em-off-right-away" crowd.
* Those who collect only pristine mint NH versus those who consider cancelled stamps to be the true veterans and therefore objects of desire of the hobby.
Welcome to the club!
-Steve
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Add to the rivalry list - the pencil on the back folks vs pristine back folks!
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Kathy {Kelly 
}, that's great news about Rob. I'm so glad he's well and has something (chess). to focus on. He's a neat guy.
I remember those member lists. Lol. And how Jerry would give darn near everyone a title. Philippines representative and the like.
But hey, 2015 Stamporama seems pretty darn amazing to me. You all have built something remarkable.
Mark
@geostamper: you can add the topical collectors rubbing elbows with the flyspeck variety folks.
(Modified by Moderator on 2015-03-25 15:51:10)
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03:52:06pm
As much writing as I do for SOR, I wouldn't even want to attempt to do a membership listing now! LOL
Kelly
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Hi, yep was in the Air Force. Some moves for the Air Force. The rest of my own choosing? I was active for 5 years and spent 20 in reserves. Gave 25 years total to this great country. Hats off and thank you to any others here who served this country.
What do I like to collect? this is where I am still searching. I primarily collect US, not a lot of preference of mint vs used in many cases. Newer try to collect mint, older, replace as I have money and opportunity. Regarding the world, I am very unfocused, just about anything that catches my eye and curiosity. But generally only used. I am more into the story of the stamp than it being pristine. I particularly like older ones that provide a glimpse into the culture of the country and the people.
I have some first days, not that interested in them. Have some blocks, but not real interested in them now either.
My collection is pretty small at the moment compared to most I'm sure. I have plenty to collect.
Writing on back, doesn't bother me on used stamps. I have bought some, and as a kid, wrote on some. Hinges on mint, I don't look at the back either. Don't figure the collection is something that will fund my retirement so I don't need the most perfect.
I guess the collection, resembles me a lot. Some parts pretty nice and perfect, other parts, well, I think the term used is filler. Don't ask my wife about what is pretty nice, she will likely just laugh.
My handle is a combo of my interest in stock investing and the Air Force.
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Thanks for the correction, Ms. Mod!
My sister in law's name is Kathy Kelly. While a curious coincidence, it is offered here only as a diversion from my poor attention to detail, rather than an excuse.
"poor attention to detail." No wonder I find stamp collecting difficult.
Mark
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Kathy, that's great news about Rob. I'm so glad he's well and has something (chess). to focus on. He's a neat guy.
I remember those member lists. Lol. And how Jerry would give darn near everyone a title. Philippines representative and the like.
But hey, 2015 Stamporama seems pretty darn amazing to me. You all have built something remarkable.
Mark
@geostamper: you can add the topical collectors rubbing elbows with the flyspeck variety folks.
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03:30:58pm
That's alright - you can call me almost anything except "Mum"
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I don't remember exactly when I joined Stamporama, but I believe it was about a year before Jerry died.
I do remember Jerry, Bob, David, Roy, Mark, Mette, Kathy & Kelly being here when I joined. There's probably others too that were members at the time, but my old memory is starting to slip. Every month I sent off my few cents in fees to David for whatever auction lots I had sold.
Liz
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For those interested in numbers, we seem to be adding membership at around 90 per month.
Here is the data for the last 30 days (ending April 20), for comparison with my original posting:
India 8, UK 6, Canada 4, Belgium 2, New Zealand 2, Spain 2, and one each for Algeria, Romania, Hong Kong, Chile, South africa, Italy, Oman, Australia, Thailand Malaysia, Iran and Albania. Total Non US 36 Plus US: 56.
Please tell us how you found out about SOR?
rrr...
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For me the credit goes to Google to bring me in here.
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I wish I could remember! It was probably a posting in the Usenet group, rec. collecting.stamps.discuss (r.c.s.d.) but I don't even remember how I found r.c.s.d. It was when the internet was text only, and Stamporama was mainly a snail-mail newsletter sent out by founder Jerry Abern. Right away my journalism genes kicked in and I started writing articles. I remember that I once wrote about a "bistre-brown" U.S. definitive stamp; Editor Jerry changed it to "Buster Brown"!
Bob
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I honestly can't recall how I found this site. I was probably just looking around after googling 'stamp collecting' and up you popped.
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at least it was color only, Bob. I imagine if you had also been discussing taggant, it would have been changed to Tige.
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05:03:48pm
I joined in 2006. Not exactly sure how I found the site. Was there an article in Linn's by the computer guy? If so, that may be it. I don't think it was Google.
When I first joined I remember you had to be very careful when you posted an item in the auction, because if there was an error, there was no way to fix it. You had to post on the DB board so people wouldn't bid and you had to email the webmaster and have them delete it.
Bob
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09:31:17am
I just joined today. I was googling technology and stamp collecting. I think there is a vast room for improvement when it comes to using technology/computer efficiently in the hobby of stamp collecting, so I'm looking forward to reading discussions on the topic.
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10:51:05am
"...I think there is a vast room for improvement when it comes to using technology/computer efficiently in the hobby of stamp collecting..."
Music to my ears! With your permission (actually I am going to go ahead without it, hope you don't mind) I will open a topic under "General Philatelic Discussion" and title it "Using technology/computer efficiently in the hobby of stamp collecting." We have had discussions tangential to this in the past, but maybe this will generate new ideas.
Come on all you techno nerds, I'll start it, but you guys (Ken, Ralph, Lars, Nelson, et alia) get your grey cells synapsing!
Bobby
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Good idea Bobby, I think I just had something to post that needed such a topic.
Now to go back to the original thread:
"(edited) I am curious how our new worldwide members have found out about SOR. And what can be done to attract more members and more specifically more Non-US members. I personally was told about SOR accidentally (Thxs Michael78651), but what about the rest of you...US and Non-US?
"
rrr...
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Hi All
Like a great deal of other members in here, I too found this site by accident, and, I am glad I did.
There are a lot of knowledgeable people in here. Than again, stamp collectors are smart anyway
Chimo
Bujutsu
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I joined in 2005, through an internet search. My info says 2006, but that was when we had to sign up for the "new list".
I guess this year is my tenth anniversary.
And I STILL think this is the best site for collecting contacts on the web! Hands down!
Randy
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I am one of several StampWants refugees. This is a great place to hang out unless you are offended by sophomoric puns. They aren't rude, crude, or socially unacceptable, but the groan factor is rather high and there are a couple of pun-laureates in the house!
I would elaborate, but I need to make like a tree and leave. Or make like a banana and split. Or make like a nuclear reactor and scram. (You get the idea).
Lars
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Lars, you're correct about your puns. I see that now. That's why my puns are Varsity level!
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I have always been curious about the reach of SOR worldwide, and how New Members join from Non-US countries. So I tallied the data for the last 60 days, using the New Members list (dated March 6, 2015).
Total last 60 days: 84
Canada 10
UK 6
India 5
Australia 3
South Africa 2
and 1 each for Chile, Hong Kong, Romania, Algeria, Poland, Singapore, Philippines, France
US by subtraction (84-34)=50
I am curious how our new worldwide members have found out about SOR. And what can be done to attract more members and more specifically more Non-US members. I personally was told about SOR accidentally when the BS Discussion Group was "disintegrating", (thank you Michael78651), but what about the rest of you...US and Non-US?
rrr...
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi Everyone;
I found this place by accident. I was aware that some discussion boards also offer a way to sell
stamps and felt it was time to look for some new options. I originally sold in a store on eBay.
Then they raised their monthly store fee to virtually eliminate stores for small sellers. You would
have to sell $500 - $1,000 a month to afford one.
My plan was to find from 2-5 websites to sell on and eventually choose one to put all my stamps in.
This was the results of that little experiment:
1) eCrater was totally free, but was too small in terms of members that were stamp collectors, and
only had the smallest number of stamp lots of five sites I tried.
2) Webstore was also free with only a few thousand more listing of stamps than eCrater. My sales
was good, but not great, nothing to get excited about.
3) Wensy was very similar and had many more stamp listings than the above but sales again was
modest at best.
4) eBid was not free. I think they charge 3% and for cheap lots a 1¢ surcharge, or they round the
3% to 1¢ to discourage cheap lots. Lifetime membership for 5 store sellers is about US$49.00!
5) Delcampe was not free either. Altho sales was just a bit better than some it was still 5%
comission. Many lots were in French, and I'm not fluent with French.
I think that 2014 will probably be a record year for the number of new members. I would not
recommend any of the above sites for sales of stamps, as they are not user friendly and many of
them don't pay attention to philatelists because stamps are such a small fraction of their sales.
So this is the chain of events that prompted me to make this change.
1) Sales on all five was abysmally small, and Wensy.com had just folded and disappeared.
2) WebStore started a new policy of placing banners over top of the images that said; "New Listing"
(30 days), "Closing Soon", "Price Reduced". I told support to remove these or I would leave.
They covered the bottom of the image so you could not see the bottom perfs. Even tho mouse-over
would make them disappear, some buyers were not aware of this.
3) Delcampe had changed and was getting very arrogant about medium priced material, and only
wanted to sell rare stamps. All lots sold there were charged 5% + US$0.18. So sales of stamps
less than a couple bucks was not worth while. Also any lots with few hits or slow sales would be
canceled without notice.
4) Sales on eCrater and eBid were slower than a snail racing across a puddle of molasses!
I have discovered that it is very difficult to sell on multiple sites at once. It is better to find one
good one and stick with it. You can never get to know your buyers very well when spread so thin,
nor can you provide good customer service.
Those are the reasons that I have chosen this site as my place to learn about stamps and the
folks that collect them. I've learned more about why people collect, and that makes it easier
for me to offer what they are most likely to enjoy having in their collection.
Just some musings....
TuskenRaider
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I found it by accident as well by doing search about a stamp question. I believe a discussion on this site was the first link.
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Google brought me here about a year ago. Was looking for an answer to some stamp question and SOR was one of the sites returned. Turns out it was the one I stuck with!
-Steve
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi Everyone;
@seanpashby & GeoStamper;
Since I've joined Stamp-o-Rama, I've done searches of stamp questions on Google, and more
than a few times it returned links to posts on here, some of them were old and some newer.
Google as been beneficial to a lot of folks looking to get better exposure, on the web.
Long live Google!!!!!!!!
Just dreamin'....
TuskenRaider
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I'm a new member from the USA. I found the group through a Google search. I have been going it alone in the hobby, just making purchases on eBay. I have so many questions on my specialty I wanted to reach out and find collectors with similar interests.
The funny thing is that being on this board has opened my thoughts to things I haven't thought of in a long while.
84 new members in two months is nothing to sneeze at. That's pretty successful. One suggestion I have would be for members who sell on line to include a small flyer for the club when they mail lots to buyers. It could be a simple half or third of a sheet, not adding to weight, cheap to print!
Trade links with other stamp websites.
Ask members to invite members from their local stamp club, and put out flyers at shows.
We print a postcard to promote our model car show. A nice color card is pretty cheap when bought in quantity at Vista Print, much cheaper than flyers so we print a load of them and send a stack to every club we know of, as well as putting them out in hobby shops and at shows. People like it because the card has become a souvenir in itself.
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09:29:24pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I too found Stamporama through a google search several years ago...Was very quiet until about a year ago when I stumbled upon the articles and the discussions...Now you can`t
shut me up as my shyness has become hidden under 4 feet of snow....As a question comes to mind someone has the answer! I am so glad to have friends here on the Stamporama site...Best google search ever!
Cheryl
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi Everyone;
How about a checkbox in the application or in the public profile as to how we found out about SOR?
1) Google search
2) Word-of-mouth
3) local stamp club
4) Stamp dealer
5) stamp show or exhibition
or better yet, applicant states in their own words, where they heard of this site.
Just thinkin' too much....
TuskenRaider
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
It's hard to believe, but Google didn't even exist when I discovered Stamporama, which someone mentioned on a Usenet group, rec. collecting.stamps.discuss (r.c.s.d.), now a Google Group. That was around 1995 or so, as I recall. It consisted of only a dozen or so members; the founder, Jerry Abern, a retired teacher, produced an occasional newsletter that mostly contained jokes. We've come a long way, Baby!
In its heyday, r.c.s.d. was the place to be, with scores of posts every day, many from very knowledgeable collectors. It's still around, but might as well not be. It gets maybe a dozen posts a month, on a good month!
Bob
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
i don't remember how or when exactly I found SOR; it was about the time Bob joined, I suppose. I wasn't among the originals, but I wasn't far behind.
We did two yearly auctions then, by paper. Tom Cannata and I organized the auctions and took the bids. Probably about 70 or so lots each time.
Jerry surrounded himself with enthusiastic people and let them have at it. He never tried to control things, but encouraged us to find better ways to do things, and boy did they.
When Jerry died, Roy took over. He had already been positioning us to move to all electronic formats, and, as I've said before, he was the driving force behind it. Much of the software we have today has been improvements to Roy's original material, although, of late, Tim has been adding lots of new things.
And, right there, Jerry, Roy, Tim is the successive sparks that have allowed the rest of us to contribute in such meaningful ways.
My hat is always off to you three visionaries.... bask in the reflected glare of my shiny bald pate.
I don't want to take away from all the folks, past and present, who have shared their time and expertise. The moderators: Bobby, Lisa, Jan-Simon, and before them Mette, Bob and Liz. Ralph on articles. The VC with Arno, Dan, Tim, Bobby, and Jan-Simon. The indefatigable Perry who headed membership for so many years. Rrrralphy on approvals. Arno, Bobby, Kelly undertaking the immense task of reorganizing and refining our discussion board into the dynamic and far more useful resource it is today.
I am sure I am missing folks, only because of a quickly shrinking memory bank, and not because there haven't been other contributions of note.
David
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09 Mar 2015
03:00:50pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I joined right after I got the internet, which was February 1997 - I was putting my name on all these trading sites - which would be totally wrong in today's internet world. Amongst the handful of trading sites was SOR and even a *discussion* group. I still chuckle that we were in the electronic age with a virtual stamp club and Jerry posted the Rambler to everyone's mail box
I wish I could remember who was here at the time. I think Bob and David came about the same time. Bob - I was in the Usenet group too. One of my closest stamp collecting friends I met here, Rob, was awesome. He had a stroke quite some time ago and after returning home he had totally lost interest in collecting although his wife still does maintain a small collection.
It's been interesting watching SOR grow from our little tiny group. I remember when we hit about 50 members, We thought we were the hottest thing in stamp collecting online! SOR is in my blood. I may not contribute a lot to the discussions and mainly stick behind the scenes of stuff but it's always family .
I'm a proud SOR dinosaur and it feels so good to see us joined around the globe.
Kelly
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I don't remember how I got here. I really don't want to say, because I was probably sitting naked at my computer at the time, and I wouldn't want anyone to have that image in their head.
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09 Mar 2015
06:29:35pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Thanks for sparing us that visual image Michael!
Already I can feel the burning on my sensitive brain.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
09 Mar 2015
06:35:50pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Thanks, Michael, for not putting that image in my head! Now, the rest of the day I'll try not to think about hippopotamuses.
I have been active online since the days of dial up 300 baud modems and bulletin boards. From 1998, I was an active participant in the various incarnations of chat boards on eBay and Yahoo. It wasn't until early 2013 that I found Stamporama.
in January 2013, while being chastised by a moderator on Stampboards for rather aggressively defending a collector who was being cyber bullied by a pseudo intellectual jerk (I was undoubtedly being quite the jerk myself, but cyber bullies make me almost as mad as the physical kind), I was told that I would probably like Stamporama as it was a kinder, gentler place (my words, but the meaning was there).
It has been, is, and from all indication, will be a joy to participate here. I have made good friends and make new ones almost every day. All that and I learn things!
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09 Mar 2015
06:42:27pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
See Michael, what you've done? The horrid nightmares we are all going to experience tonight as we nestle into our nice warm beds - we're not going to have visions of sugar plum fairies, we're going to have ... oy....
Bobby - we let you stay so we can work your hide off, just think of how many people you've had the opportunity to tell off politely and we all say thank you - that's rare in this world, a true show of love
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
@Michael,
Was there any alcohol involved at the time? I'm just asking because I know that a certain amount of alcohol has participated in many of my auction bids.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Tim, I don't think there was any alcohol. Might have been some booze. I just hope that my web cam wasn't turned on at the time...I'm sure it wasn't, because I would have been an overnight sensation on the internet if the cam was on.
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I can't remember how I learned about Stamporama - I think it was a Google search. But, back in 2008 I joined and did a ton of buying from Liz and Lee. My Japan and Scandinavian collections benefited greatly, and I made a bunch of wonderful friendships. I can't imagine collecting without all my SOR compadres! Philately is often described as a solitary pursuit, but I feel that is rather inaccurate - my philatelic friendships are the part of the hobby I enjoy most!
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I have been here seen July 2013 (not very long compared to others here)--I have to thank Michael##### for letting me know his stamp ID game had moved from BS over here.
I try to tell my trading friends to try SOR and a couple of joined so far. It's a great place to discuss and buy stamps! BOB
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi
New member here - I collect Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports, and early Macau. Main area of interest now is arrival cancels abroad and ship cancels. Also a member of the HKSC and if you are on Facebook a group called Hong Kong Stamps, Covers and Postmarks
Am currently collating arrival cancels on HK stamps with a view at some point to creating a monograph to update the one published by Lee Scamp et al,Hong Kong Arrival Markings in 1980. This is a great work but it is in black & white and before the age of inexpensive colour printing. We have computers, scanners, printers and digital cameras that at the time of publication they could only dream.
Just need alot of money to buy all the good items that come up at auction or failing that great photos from fellow collectors etc, and alot of time and more knowledge than I currently possess.
William
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
BobbyBarnhart wrote:
"...in January 2013, while being chastised by a moderator on Stampboards for rather aggressively defending a collector who was being cyber bullied by a pseudo intellectual jerk..."
That sort of thing happening on Stampboards? I find that hard to believe.........not!
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
WillLack wrote:
"Am currently collating arrival cancels on HK stamps with a view at some point to creating a monograph to update the one published by Lee Scamp et al,Hong Kong Arrival Markings in 1980. This is a great work but it is in black & white and before the age of inexpensive colour printing. We have computers, scanners, printers and digital cameras that at the time of publication they could only dream."
Good for you. There are numerous publications on Hong Kong material which could do with the same treatment.
Some of those that I have seen, not only need their illustrations updated (and more illustrations used) but would benefit from a re-styling of presentation. Some are quite badly written and rather dull.
You could of course do a trial run on this board, by putting your work up as an 'article'. I would imagine you could post this piecemeal. Any feedback you get would help refine it.
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I'm glad for this thread, if only to figure out that amsd is David and Poodle Mum is Kelly!
I remember how I found out about Stamporama quite clearly. My son was born in 1995 and by 1996 I had given up golf as too time consuming and rediscovered my childhood stamp album. I wondered if people still collected stamps (honest, I had no idea) and started searching around the Internet and the library. Found Linns and Scott Catalogues at the library and Stamporama online.
I wasn't one of the original 6 but I'm pretty sure I was one of the original 50 or so. I was on what was possibly the first Volunteer Committee with Kelly and Bob and David. I remember struggling with the need for lots of bylaws and rules as the first couple versions were being built. Although it sure seems to be working fine these days.
I loved those early Ramblers. Massive word docs (didn't the first ones get mailed to people who signed up offline?) that took forever to download and were full of jokes and stories and Jerry's ruminations and were sometimes even about stamps. There was a fellow names Brian McGrath (I think) who would write stories about sorting mixes or going to stamp shows and I loved his stuff. They inspired me to write a column called "news from the northlands" along similar lines. General collecting stuff, what's going on with my local club, etc.
Remember the round robin? Fun trading circuit. The Portugal defins in my stockbook are still remembered as "from David".
After Jerry died I remember Bob and Roy really taking Stamporama to the next level as an online club. Roy dealing with the website and Bob raising the level of articles on the site. But there were so many others too. Mette Heindorff and Arlene and Patches (maybe Arlene is patches? I'm so bad with Internet handles!) Rob V from Holland who I actually spoke on the phone with before he had a stroke and gave up stamps.
By 2004 or so I had got really heavy into my local stamp club and then it all crashed. Life got busy, work got stressful, the club was more work than fun and I pretty much dropped stamp collecting completely. Went dark, as they say. Quit the club, quit online, quit reading Linns etc.
I've slowly got back to the hobby over the past few years. I am committed to keeping it a hobby. For fun. I get to the local club once a year or so, lurk around online a bit and have spent the past two years working through a huge lot of Sweden that I bought on eBay, a few stamps at a time. It's fun again.
When I "rediscovered" Stamporama a while back I was so impressed by how far this club has come. The auction and approval books are humming. The discussion board is friendly and informative. And the articles are still excellent. And the tone is still friendly and respectful (that's not always the case in online stamp forums!) That's a huge credit to the folks who are running things now. Some old, some new (to me anyway!)
I'd like to get more active here again. I'm just feeling my way around a bit. Figuring out who's who, etc. I'm finding it hard to post because I'm a new guy here again but I remember many of you. So it's a little strange. Maybe this "reintroduction" will help.
Even though it's been nearly 20 years (!) since I got back into stamp collecting I'm still pretty much a perpetual beginner. Hey, that might be a good column for the Rambler. "The Perpetual Beginner". lol.
Mark
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
23 Mar 2015
12:40:24pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Welcome back, Mark. I have been a beginner for 50some years, so do not apologize. Every day I do not learn something new I qualify as a wasted day. As a moderator here, I read every single post, whether it involves my collecting interest or not, and it perfectly matches my compulsive learning curve. Always feel free to message me about anything; I seldom know the answer, but more often than not can direct you to a member who does.
Have fun vis a vis your return to the fold. We are the best damn stamp club around, and there is a meeting in progress 24/7.
-Bobby
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Mark, you and I probably popped in about the same time. I remember all those folks, too. Liz is Patches, and she's still around making up the best auction lots. Mette was very active then; I refer to her website often in explaining early seals. She was THE authority on Danish seals.
The round robins were, unfortunately, mostly a disaster. I remember getting extraordinary material from Bob and passing on material to the next person. Bob had tailored his material precisely for me. By the time it got back to Bob for round two, it was floor sweepings.
We did spend a lot of time on bylaws, but I think they have served us well as underpinning on how to conduct ourselves.
I missed you when you were on hiatus, and glad to see you back
David
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi, Looks like this is the place where you introduce yourself. Explain how you collected when you were young. Moved on to other things, then funny thing -- You see a stamp and it's all over. You are back as a Philatelist.
Guilty as charged.
I collected as a teenager and remember spending hours at a time traveling around the world via those stamps. It was a fantastic time. Anyhow, went off to college, got married, raised 3 wonderful kids (what other kind are there) and things are now starting to be less hectic, except during college football. My son ended up at Ohio State and my Daughter at Michigan State. Games can divide the old house. Yea, I still have to get up and punch the clock everyday, but only a few more years of that.
Anyway, I kept my stamp collection and stored it safely away. Not too humid, etc. I managed to keep it through 8 or 10 moves. So, what did I do. I decided to sell it. I pulled it out and started looking through my album pages, stock books, glassines.... Next thing I find myself bidding at a local auction on a stamp collection. I say I may be able to sell it too. Buy a few more things at a few more auctions, hit ebay, ebid, delcampe... Hooked. Again. Nothing to do but give in to temptation.
I found a local stamp and coin store. Now I am all in. My wife doesn't understand, but is trying to. Now I found stamporama, and after reading many postings, looking at the approvals pages (already bought some), I feel I found a really good place to learn about what has happened in the last 30 years in the field.
Anyway thanks for being here for me. Hope I can add something to the group overtime.
John
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Welcome back to the hobby, and welcome to SOR!
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Stockflyer, please tell us what you collect.
Bob
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
24 Mar 2015
10:55:15pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I enjoyed reading your (all too familiar) story. 50+ year collector here, with several lapses to my credit. You sound like an ideal fit into our community, and I expect to see you posting with regularity.
Welcome aboard, John!
Bobby
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi John;
Your public profile just states that you collect US & WW. I think what bobstamp was wondering
is; do you collect used or mint, back-of-book, covers, full sheets or just singles?
Some WW collectors only collect Europe, and some only North & South America, some also collect
Asia, and crazy sand people like me collect all countries but only up to 1970s or early 80s. Also
many of us use all sorts of albums to house our treasures, some make their own, some use pre-
printed albums, some topical collectors prefer Vario pages etc.
I use Scott International first seven volumes (big blue) and about 30 Scott green specialty
albums, and only mount with hinges, except very expensive stamps.
Just chillin'....
TuskenRaider
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25 Mar 2015
02:16:56pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Mark - I'm still in contact with Rob from time to time. His wife has a small collection - he's now obsessed with chess. He's built a huge library just to study chess. I've tried to encourage him to come back and share his knowledge about Scandinavian post and he's thought about it a number of times but he just can't do it (he still has the knowledge, he hasn't forgotten it). He and I were definitely close friends back then and I'm glad I was able to re-locate him this past year after A LOT of searching.
I think Jerry picked the perfect name for the Rambler - he did love to tell stories and yup, some of them were about stamps! LOL
He used to list all the members in every Rambler and after I think we hit about 30 or 40 I thought, good Lord, half the Rambler will one day be just filled with lists of members. Well, I think we surpassed that one!
I am still amazed at how much we have grown, how many new things we have here at SOR and just sometimes overwhelmed when I think of our little discussion board and the round robins. We definitely did a lot of trading back then. Maybe that's why every time we tried to set up a new round robin it flew the nest because everyone was already trading with each other and no doubt whatever was sent to one person in a packet was eventually passed on to someone else in the club!
I look at the in-depth discussions we have and again feel overwhelmed with pride and love and the fact that there are so many people here who have come back to the hobby or picked it up "by accident through inheritance." So many people stepping up, not afraid to ask questions about their stamps and covers and postmarks and then see the wealth of information that follows up all those questions.
I'm so glad we've been able to collectively build up and keep SOR alive and growing every day
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
John (stockflyer), your story is nearly identical to mine, right down to the number of kids! I'm also assuming you are military? Ten moves and the fighter jets are my only clues, but they are strong clues. Air Force, correct? I was Army, so if all my assumptions are true, we have a good-natured rivalry brewing already. Add to that those Big-10 schools... it had to be MSU and OSU, didn't it? With me being a Notre Dame grad living in Nebraska, I think we've got about all the rivalry bases covered.
Which brings up an interesting thought... What are the (friendly) rivalries among stamp collectors? So far in my year back into the hobby I've see here on SOR:
* Those who swear by hinges and those who never, ever, ever hinge.
* Those who think a stamp off cover is worthless versus the "soak-em-off-right-away" crowd.
* Those who collect only pristine mint NH versus those who consider cancelled stamps to be the true veterans and therefore objects of desire of the hobby.
Welcome to the club!
-Steve
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Kathy {Kelly }, that's great news about Rob. I'm so glad he's well and has something (chess). to focus on. He's a neat guy.
I remember those member lists. Lol. And how Jerry would give darn near everyone a title. Philippines representative and the like.
But hey, 2015 Stamporama seems pretty darn amazing to me. You all have built something remarkable.
Mark
@geostamper: you can add the topical collectors rubbing elbows with the flyspeck variety folks.
(Modified by Moderator on 2015-03-25 15:51:10)
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25 Mar 2015
03:52:06pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
As much writing as I do for SOR, I wouldn't even want to attempt to do a membership listing now! LOL
Kelly
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi, yep was in the Air Force. Some moves for the Air Force. The rest of my own choosing? I was active for 5 years and spent 20 in reserves. Gave 25 years total to this great country. Hats off and thank you to any others here who served this country.
What do I like to collect? this is where I am still searching. I primarily collect US, not a lot of preference of mint vs used in many cases. Newer try to collect mint, older, replace as I have money and opportunity. Regarding the world, I am very unfocused, just about anything that catches my eye and curiosity. But generally only used. I am more into the story of the stamp than it being pristine. I particularly like older ones that provide a glimpse into the culture of the country and the people.
I have some first days, not that interested in them. Have some blocks, but not real interested in them now either.
My collection is pretty small at the moment compared to most I'm sure. I have plenty to collect.
Writing on back, doesn't bother me on used stamps. I have bought some, and as a kid, wrote on some. Hinges on mint, I don't look at the back either. Don't figure the collection is something that will fund my retirement so I don't need the most perfect.
I guess the collection, resembles me a lot. Some parts pretty nice and perfect, other parts, well, I think the term used is filler. Don't ask my wife about what is pretty nice, she will likely just laugh.
My handle is a combo of my interest in stock investing and the Air Force.
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Thanks for the correction, Ms. Mod!
My sister in law's name is Kathy Kelly. While a curious coincidence, it is offered here only as a diversion from my poor attention to detail, rather than an excuse.
"poor attention to detail." No wonder I find stamp collecting difficult.
Mark
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Kathy, that's great news about Rob. I'm so glad he's well and has something (chess). to focus on. He's a neat guy.
I remember those member lists. Lol. And how Jerry would give darn near everyone a title. Philippines representative and the like.
But hey, 2015 Stamporama seems pretty darn amazing to me. You all have built something remarkable.
Mark
@geostamper: you can add the topical collectors rubbing elbows with the flyspeck variety folks.
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A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent).
26 Mar 2015
03:30:58pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
That's alright - you can call me almost anything except "Mum"
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Auctions - Approvals
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I don't remember exactly when I joined Stamporama, but I believe it was about a year before Jerry died.
I do remember Jerry, Bob, David, Roy, Mark, Mette, Kathy & Kelly being here when I joined. There's probably others too that were members at the time, but my old memory is starting to slip. Every month I sent off my few cents in fees to David for whatever auction lots I had sold.
Liz
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
For those interested in numbers, we seem to be adding membership at around 90 per month.
Here is the data for the last 30 days (ending April 20), for comparison with my original posting:
India 8, UK 6, Canada 4, Belgium 2, New Zealand 2, Spain 2, and one each for Algeria, Romania, Hong Kong, Chile, South africa, Italy, Oman, Australia, Thailand Malaysia, Iran and Albania. Total Non US 36 Plus US: 56.
Please tell us how you found out about SOR?
rrr...
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
For me the credit goes to Google to bring me in here.
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I wish I could remember! It was probably a posting in the Usenet group, rec. collecting.stamps.discuss (r.c.s.d.) but I don't even remember how I found r.c.s.d. It was when the internet was text only, and Stamporama was mainly a snail-mail newsletter sent out by founder Jerry Abern. Right away my journalism genes kicked in and I started writing articles. I remember that I once wrote about a "bistre-brown" U.S. definitive stamp; Editor Jerry changed it to "Buster Brown"!
Bob
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I honestly can't recall how I found this site. I was probably just looking around after googling 'stamp collecting' and up you popped.
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
at least it was color only, Bob. I imagine if you had also been discussing taggant, it would have been changed to Tige.
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
22 Apr 2015
05:03:48pm
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I joined in 2006. Not exactly sure how I found the site. Was there an article in Linn's by the computer guy? If so, that may be it. I don't think it was Google.
When I first joined I remember you had to be very careful when you posted an item in the auction, because if there was an error, there was no way to fix it. You had to post on the DB board so people wouldn't bid and you had to email the webmaster and have them delete it.
Bob
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Wanting to bring the joy of stamp collecting to younger generations
12 May 2015
09:31:17am
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I just joined today. I was googling technology and stamp collecting. I think there is a vast room for improvement when it comes to using technology/computer efficiently in the hobby of stamp collecting, so I'm looking forward to reading discussions on the topic.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
12 May 2015
10:51:05am
re: New Members of the Last 60 days
"...I think there is a vast room for improvement when it comes to using technology/computer efficiently in the hobby of stamp collecting..."
Music to my ears! With your permission (actually I am going to go ahead without it, hope you don't mind) I will open a topic under "General Philatelic Discussion" and title it "Using technology/computer efficiently in the hobby of stamp collecting." We have had discussions tangential to this in the past, but maybe this will generate new ideas.
Come on all you techno nerds, I'll start it, but you guys (Ken, Ralph, Lars, Nelson, et alia) get your grey cells synapsing!
Bobby
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Good idea Bobby, I think I just had something to post that needed such a topic.
Now to go back to the original thread:
"(edited) I am curious how our new worldwide members have found out about SOR. And what can be done to attract more members and more specifically more Non-US members. I personally was told about SOR accidentally (Thxs Michael78651), but what about the rest of you...US and Non-US?
"
rrr...
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Hi All
Like a great deal of other members in here, I too found this site by accident, and, I am glad I did.
There are a lot of knowledgeable people in here. Than again, stamp collectors are smart anyway
Chimo
Bujutsu
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I joined in 2005, through an internet search. My info says 2006, but that was when we had to sign up for the "new list".
I guess this year is my tenth anniversary.
And I STILL think this is the best site for collecting contacts on the web! Hands down!
Randy
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
I am one of several StampWants refugees. This is a great place to hang out unless you are offended by sophomoric puns. They aren't rude, crude, or socially unacceptable, but the groan factor is rather high and there are a couple of pun-laureates in the house!
I would elaborate, but I need to make like a tree and leave. Or make like a banana and split. Or make like a nuclear reactor and scram. (You get the idea).
Lars
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re: New Members of the Last 60 days
Lars, you're correct about your puns. I see that now. That's why my puns are Varsity level!
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